


In Our Mountains, 'Neath Our Skies

by ArtemisTheHuntress



Series: Purimgifts 2020! [1]
Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: "started talking about one thing oops now we're talking about feelings" is my favorite genre, Camping, Character Study, Collection: Purimgifts Day 1, Discussion of Kira's Resistance days, Female Bonding, Gen, Holodecks/Holosuites, Kira has a lot of complex feelings, ish, she misses her home even though she's sorta still here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:08:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22628350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtemisTheHuntress/pseuds/ArtemisTheHuntress
Summary: Kira and Dax go camping and talk about food and feelings.
Relationships: Jadzia Dax & Kira Nerys
Series: Purimgifts 2020! [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1632490
Comments: 12
Kudos: 19
Collections: Purimgifts 2020





	In Our Mountains, 'Neath Our Skies

**Author's Note:**

  * For [itwasadarkandstormynight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/itwasadarkandstormynight/gifts).



> For Purimgifts exchange day 1! Kira and Dax canonically LARP together in the holosuites, let's see more of that, and them...

Kira struck the little utility knife against the flint, sending sparks into the neat cone of twigs and _chabah_ -tree bark. Jadzia Dax sat beside her, stretching her arms lazily, cross-legged on the grass with her back to the sunset. Dax may have several lifetimes’ worth of many, many skills, but setting up camp in the brushland foothills of the Dahkur mountains was something that was all Kira’s.

The oily strands of bark lit, a little too easily, and a little too quickly roared up into a friendly campfire. Whoever programmed this simulation apparently only wanted to mimic the fun parts of camping, not the frustration of trying to get a fire to light or the risk of skimming a layer of skin off one’s thumb with a careless strike. The bugs buzzing around them created a soothing hum, but never bit or itched or crawled on their skin trying to drink their sweat. The air was cool and sweet. The breeze carried the smell of rain in the valley, not blood, or seared flesh, or poisoned soil, or the rank fear of discovery and death.

It wasn’t quite _accurate._ But it was nice.

The fire was soothing and warm in the cool air. The _balaa’ib_ birds that came out at twilight chirped and rustled in the bushes. Kira sat back on her heels, bracing one hand against the firm and rocky earth, and pulled out a spicy _hasperat_ wrap from her bag.

Dax smirked when she saw that. “Ooh, contraband. I don’t think Quark sold you that. He’s going to be grumpy if he catches you with outside food in his holosuite.”

Kira peeled off the outer paper wrapping. “I’ve never cared what that little bog-stoat thinks, and I don’t intend to start now. You can’t sit around a fire without eating hasperat.”

Dax laughed and pulled out some equally contraband crackers and candy from her own bag. “You have the right idea.”

“What are those?”

“Honey crackers, earth chocolate, and marshmallows. You make _s’mores_ with them. It’s an Earth camping food. You can’t sit around a fire without _s’mores_.”

“You’ve been camping on Earth?”

“Once. Benjamin introduced me to these back when I was Curzon. Curzon didn’t like them much, but Curzon was wrong, because they’re excellent. Here.”

Kira couldn’t help but smile as she assembled the sticky snack. “Seems more trouble than it’s worth. What’s the classic campfire food for Trill?”

“ _Hagheesp_ soup _,_ probably,” Dax said. “I never really went camping on Trill. It’s not something most people do for fun.”

“Well,” Kira said. “On Bajor we didn’t usually sleep outside around a campfire for _fun_ , either.”

“Ah. Right.”

There were a few moments of silence, washed gently in the soft sound of the birds and the breeze and the crackling fire, then Dax asked, “Why did you want to spend your holosuite time here? You could be camping on the beaches of Risa, or cliffs of Argo, or the forests of Earth. The Bajoran mountains are beautiful, but are they... _happy_ memories here?”

Kira looked out over the soft rolling mountains, covered in a blanket of trees cast in sharp brights and shadows under the setting sun. “It’s home,” she said. “I miss the sky sometimes. And the mountains. And the _trees._ There aren’t any trees on the station. It’s funny, how much I miss trees, living in space.” She tried to laugh; it turned into a sigh. “I fought my whole life for this planet. For Bajor. For our right to live free on our own world. And then, the moment Bajor _was_ free, I left.”

“You didn’t go far,” Dax said. “And you’re still fighting for Bajor.”

Kira glanced sideways at her, then shuffled to sit back on the cold ground and wrapped her arms around her knees. “That’s what I keep telling myself.”

“Mm.” Dax followed her gaze over the green valley, fading to darkness now that the sun had fallen behind the mountains. The brightest stars were just beginning to appear. Kira looked up, searching for Deep Space Nine. From here, it should be a small steady light in the sky, but either this program was of the wrong time of year or the programmer hadn’t thought to include it in the simulation.

She wasn’t very good at pretending this was real.

“Do you miss it?” Dax asked.

“Sorry?”

“Your rebel days. Living in these mountains with your family of freedom-fighters, waging guerilla war against the Cardassians.”

Startled, Kira tried to throw the question off with a laugh. “Of course not! I...” It felt hollow and defensive even as she said it. Dax was looking at her with an open, gentle expression, patient as only someone very old can be.

“... we were starving,” Kira said. “Always. There was never enough food; the Cardassians burned our farms and forests on purpose. We were cold at night, and always knew sleeping was a risk. We all expected to die for the cause. And many of my friends, my family, did.” She smiled, a little wistfully, a little bitterly, at her knees. “But... even now, I do miss it, sometimes. We knew who we were fighting with, who we were fighting against, and who we were fighting for. Knew where we belonged. It was simple. It made sense. We had a purpose, and we were all united, all Bajorans.” Kira sighed and stretched out. “I wish I had that kind of clarity and confidence now. We definitely don’t have that unity.”

“Clarity and confidence and unity are hard to come by in this galaxy,” Dax said. “You’re not a failure because Bajor still has problems. Everywhere still has problems. No one has clarity or unity anywhere.” She smiled at Kira. “But you have us. I promise.”

Kira returned a small grin. “True.”

“And we have... an hour and a half left in here before Quark kicks us out.” Jadzia held up the warm cracker-chocolate-and-marshmallow concoction. “And if nothing else, right now, we have s’mores.”

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from [a line from a filk I wrote](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22836871).
> 
> Chag Purim Sameach!
> 
> I saw this heart-shaped prickly pear cactus when I was out hiking the other weekend and thought it was cute <3


End file.
